A'S NOTEBOOK / Thumbs up for rejuvenated Tejada

Published 4:00 am, Monday, July 28, 2003

2003-07-28 04:00:00 PDT Anaheim -- When Miguel Tejada cracked a two-run homer in the seventh inning Sunday, it snapped a streak of 26 games and 107 at-bats without a home run for the AL MVP, equaling the longest drought of his career.

Afterward, Tejada revealed that he spent a good month or more with a painful right thumb that reduced his power. Tejada said he hurt the thumb when jammed by a pitch during the A's home series against Kansas City, which came in late May.

"I didn't say anything," Tejada said. "I kept playing."

One possible eventual benefit: Tejada said he might have begun to have some better at-bats and gone the other way a bit more while hampered by the sore thumb. Still, he was letting go of the bat with his right hand, eliminating some power.

Now, his hand is fine, and Tejada has an 11-game hitting streak, and he's got a .372 average in that span to bring up his overall mark to .258, the highest it has been since the fourth game of the season.

Last year, when Tejada carried the A's into the playoffs, he opened the second half with a 24-game hitting streak.

MECIR IN THE CLEAR?: Macha suggested strongly that the A's would prefer to wait a few more days for reliever Jim Mecir to be able to pitch rather than to put him on the disabled list and not have him available for the next 10 days. Mecir's sore knee had made his status shaky.

"Jim's value to us is huge," Macha said. "When he's OK, he comes in and pitches the eighth inning and does extremely well. We want him on the club."

Mecir was unavailable again on Sunday and after the game, Macha said, "We'll have to figure something out." General manager Billy Beane said that there still are no plans to put Mecir on the DL, largely because the A's starters have pitched so well that the rest of the bullpen is fresh. Beane said Mecir might receive an injection of Synvisc or cortisone to help with the knee.

If the A's do dip into the system for a reliever, Triple-A Sacramento closer Chad Harville is likely to get the call.

When Mecir can't go, Oakland essentially is operating with a three-man bullpen, because Rule-5 draftee Michael Neu isn't used in close games and John Halama is the long man.

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